Gee-Gees face rematches of 2012 Final Four, against RMC and Queen's

Host Queen's (10-2 OUA) Sunday, January 27, 2:00 p.m. (SSN Canada)

The nationally seventh-ranked uOttawa Gee-Gees women's volleyball team will play its final two home games of the regular season this weekend when they play host to the RMC Paladins and the Queen's Gaels. Ottawa is coming off a 3-0 sweep of the McMaster Marauders and is currently riding a five-game winning streak. RMC and Queen's are also currently streaking, but in different directions, with RMC having lost five straight games, and Queen's having won eight games in a row.

"Our only focus was to find our own game coming back from the winter break and against McMaster, I thought we played one of our best matches of the year, especially in the first two sets," said Gee-Gees head coach Lionel Woods. "McMaster was a great test for us, and we need to be in a good state of mind for this weekend as well."

Interestingly, Ottawa also played RMC and Queen's at the 2012 OUA Final Four, with the Gee-Gees beating RMC 3-0 in the semifinals, but coming up short 3-1 against Queen's in the gold medal match. While RMC has regressed a little bit in the OUA standings this season, the Gaels are the hottest team in the conference right now and they still have a shot at finishing ahead of York and Ottawa for first place in the OUA.

"We play RMC on day 1 and Queen's on day 2, so it's kind of like a repeat of the Final Four, and that's how we're looking at it. We really don't have to think about what's going to happen after this weekend because we have two weeks to prepare for our final league matches. So right now, we're just going to not worry about playoff positioning and just focus on RMC and Queen's in a mini Final Four before we hopefully get to the real one," said Woods.

The Gee-Gees have already faced the Paladins earlier this season, at RMC, and earned a 3-0 win on Nov. 23. The Paladins are a solid defensive squad, ranked first in the CIS in digs per set, led by their libero Kelsey Chang who is averaging 4.3 digs per set. However, it is likely that the Gaels will represent the tougher challenge this weekend, as Queen's has one of the better setters in the CIS in Anna Pedjase and a top attacker in Colleen Ogilvie, who averages 3.9 points per set. Ottawa did face Queen's this preseason and won 3-1 at Queen's.

"We changed one power hitter this season, while they've changed two. But the rest of their lineup remains pretty similar, and it's the same with us. I think we're two evenly matched teams who play a similar style-we move the ball around and neither of us depend on one person. So I'm certainly not expecting a 3-0 blowout for either side," explained Woods.

Don't miss your final chance to see the women's volleyball team at Montpetit Hall before they head into the playoffs in February! Tickets are FREE for all uOttawa students!